Water (H2O) is an inorganic material consisting of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Water is important for all organisms and is an essential element of organisms. The elements and molecular structure bestow it with unique properties, particularly the formation of hydrogen bond. In the structure of water, there are two receptors and two donors of forming hydrogen bonds, respectively; and various structures between water molecules are formed by hydrogen bond, such as tetrahedron structure like ice, dimer and polymer. Therefore, at the microenvironment level, the water molecule is called a “water cluster,” which is a water molecule cluster formed with discontinuous hydrogen structure. The hydrogen bonds of small water cluster are cleaved more easily to form individual water molecules, so the small water cluster has stronger diffusion power and faster absorption rate. Therefore, compared to the large water cluster, the small water cluster can readily pass through the water channel on a cell membrane and allow an ingredient to enter a cell easily and improve metabolism.
After water is boiled or gasified, it will become small molecule water; however, after cooling it to room temperature, water molecules will form a large molecule cluster. A water cluster has an antioxidant effect after hydrogen gas is added; however, due to low solubility of hydrogen gas, the hydrogen gas will rapidly effuse to atmosphere. The solubility of solids and gas in water can be increased by elevating temperature and pressure; however, an additional apparatus and process are necessary to achieve this effect. More, after it returns to normal temperature and pressure, the solubility will return to the original state without increased solubility.
Taiwan Patent No. M382845 discloses a filtration element with a composite layer and a filtration apparatus having the element, said composite layer consisting of nano noble metal chitosan composite, and the composite comprising a chitosan substrate and a number of nano noble metal particles adsorbed on the surface of the chitosan substrate. The harmful substances in a fluid can be removed after passing through the composite having the substrate and nano noble metal so as to achieve antibacteria and deodorization effects. Furthermore, the filtration and adsorption are improved in view of the adsorption of impurities by chitosan. However, the water treated by the apparatus still cannot achieve satisfactory small water cluster.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,576 provides water cluster compositions characterized by high oxygen reactivity due to protruding, delocalized pπ orbitals. The patent application uses a hypersonic nozzle containing nickel or nickel alloy, which is different from that of the prior art, to destroy the interaction between water molecules when water passes through the nozzle to obtain water clusters containing 5 to 300 water molecules and having high oxygen reactivity. However, the property only exists in the water microdroplets formed by instant spray.
US 20110218251 A1 discloses a product having solid stable water clusters including a plurality of water molecules connected with one another by electrical dipole interaction via internal electric field of ions and having a permanent electric dipole moment with an electrical field surrounding the solid stable water clusters. The patent application discloses a product with stable solid water clusters, each sized from a nanometer to a micrometer and formed by the electrical dipole interaction surrounding the water cluster. The chamber having ultrapure water is filled with argon gas to avoid contact with carbon dioxide. After an additive (such as sodium chloride, vitamin, amino acid, hormone, protein, enzyme, polypeptide, polysaccharide, DNA, RNA) is introduced to the chamber, electrical dipole interaction occurs between the additive and water to form stable water clusters. However, the need in the patent application, for an additive means the resulting water is not pure water.
US 20110089049 A1 provides an electrolytic method for treatment of water to increase the dissolved oxygen content; the method further aids the distribution and exposure of radicals through the water cluster. The patent application discloses a method of obtaining a single water cluster by confining a water molecule in an environment of nano-materials including nano-carbon tube or grapheme nano-layer and containing nitrogen, alloy, palladium, palladium-gold or palladium-silver, and the size of the water cluster is 0.5 to 100 nanometers. However, the method of the patent application cannot provide water continuously.
US 20110039951A1 discloses a method including providing a nano-environment and confining heavy or light water in the nano-environment such that at least one water cluster forms. However, the water treated by the above method cannot achieve satisfactory small water cluster.
US 20130056355A1 provides a water treatment system based on electric and magnetic fields, which employs water to pass through a pipe containing a rare earth alloy formed by lanthanum, yttrium, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, titanium and zinc metal alloy and excites electrons of water to form an electric field and then pass through a pipe with a permanent magnet to create electric and magnetic fields to break hydrogen bonds between partial water molecules. However, the water treated by the above system cannot achieve satisfactory small water cluster. Moreover, too many various rare earth species are required.
Therefore, there remains a need to develop a smaller water cluster in the art to obtain a small water cluster having increased diffusion power and better absorption rate, which is more beneficial to health.